Post Office Closure Public Meeting Tonight
The USPS is considering closing the Tacoma Mail Processing Center on South Pine Street, and consolidating its operations with a processing center in Seattle. The post office located on the same site as the processing center would remain open. As a part of the process of considering this closure, the USPS is required to take public comment into consideration. To this end they will be hosting a public meeting tonight at 5:30 at the Tacoma Main Library.
The closure of the Tacoma branch would mean a net decrease of 139 employees. Local collection box pick-up times may change, and overnight mail delivery would end, though mail would be delivered with a two to three day standard. Business mail acceptance would remain the same, though certain kinds of business mailings may see changes. Some smaller communities losing their post offices worry that mail will no longer be post-marked with their location, but the USPS says that a local postmark will still be available for stamped First-Class Mail.
Stories of tough financial times for the Postal Service are nothing new. Times are tough for the post office, with fewer of us sending snail mail, and the recession taking its toll on commercial mailings. The USPS feasibility study on closing the Pine Street Processing Center claims that it can save nearly $7 million by doing so. It’s hard to argue with that kind of financial logic, but is there something greater that is being lost with the closing of such facilities? Or is it really just a question of the bottom line?
Read more from The Daily Index. Or read the USPS Feasibility Study for this closure.
Tacoma Mail Processing Center Public Comment Session
When: Thursday, November 17th, 5:30 p.m.
Where: Tacoma Main Library, 1102 Tacoma Ave. S.
4 comments
D Dale Frank November 17, 2011
Raise the price of stamps to cover the cost of mailing letters. A couple of penny’s isn’t doing it make it a quarter or more to cover your cost. Quit giving away to the big guys like banks, cable company’s etc, it isn’t free but next to it.
Thanks, Dale Frank
J Jack November 17, 2011
I was appalled when I first heard about this, but it only makes sense if they close the entire facility and not just part of it. Currently, multiple operations come out of that plant, not just mail processing. Non-retail or mail processing departments can be consolidated in the National Distribution Center in Federal Way, which is where many of the Queen Anne departments have already located.
Retail services are available at TCCF just two or three blocks down from the Evergreen station.
The two departments that I wonder about is Maintenance and Bulk Mail. Currently, custodial services are centered at the plant, maintaining individual custodians at each PO. With CFS closed in TCCF, would there be enough room for the department consolidation there?
Also, where would the BMEU go?
There would be no jobs lost, as the employees are currently being shuffled to different offices now. The commute would be harder. Many are eligible for retirement. The NRP process has already eliminated much of the, well, dead weight as it were. Personally, I think that it doesn’t matter how much people will be screaming to keep that plant open, they’re going to close it no matter what.
IMHO: The price of First Class stamps keeps the important mail available to those who don’t make much money. Thank all of you who still send letters, cards, and bill payments through the mail. In probably 30 years, I think the USPS has only lost one of my envelopes.
BTW: Every time you use Parcel Post instead of Priority, the Seattle District loses approx. $2.13. The cost of processing Parcel Post literally exceeds the cost required to deliver it. Media Mail loses approx. $1 and loose change. Many people sneak through non-qualifying packages using Media Mail (like through eBay). And commercial standard mailers are charged a pittance.
And quit whining about “junk mail.” Recycle it if you don’t want it. Right now it’s the bread and butter of the Post Office. For those of us who grew up without a lot of money, those “wish books” gave us a glimpse of a better life. Plus many, many people use the grocery ads to plan their shopping list.
J jamie November 18, 2011
TCCF CFS BMEU NRP, indeed. (?)
R RR Anderson November 18, 2011
#occupytacoma